A partial lunar eclipse will be observable from Brno in the early hours of the morning on Monday, 16 May. Photo Credit: Pavel Gabzdyl / Hvězdárna a planetárium Brno
Brno, 13 May, (BD) – During the night of 15-16 May, the full moon will be on its way towards the horizon, not too high above the southwest. Around 3:30am, the round disk of the full moon will begin to slowly darken from left to right. This low-light phase is called a partial shadow eclipse, and it will end at around 4:30am, when this should change visibly with the sunrise. A complete shadow of the Earth will appear on the left edge of the lunar disk, moving back to the right. The shadow will quickly reach the horizon and disappear shortly after 5am. To experience another total eclipse, one would have to travel to the American continent.
“Although this is not a phenomenon we can observe in all its beauty, we should definitely not ignore it,” said Jiří Dušek, Director of the Brno Observatory and Planetarium. “The following years will be lacking in similar events; the next total lunar eclipse will occur only in September 2025. In addition, the May celestial eclipse will see the presence of four conspicuous planets: Saturn, Mars, Jupiter and Venus.”
Depending on good weather, the Brno Observatory and Planetarium will offer telescope observations with commentary directly from Kraví hora from 4am until dawn, as well as a live broadcast on their website.
